Advanced Search 
View: Front
Violin
Nicolo Amati (Italian, 1596–1684)
1641, with later alterations
Object Place: Cremona, Italy
Medium/Technique
Maple, spruce, ebony
Dimensions
Length 57.8 cm, width 20.1 cm (Length 22 3/4 in., width 7 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Arthur E. Spiller, M.D.
Accession Number1991.73
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionTwo-piece back and ribs of maple. Two-piece belly of fine-grain spruce (attributed to Carlo Tononi in Bologna, about 1700). Regular purfling. Neck and pegbox of maple. Fingerboard, nut, saddle, and end button of ebony. Tuning pegs and tailpiece of boxwood. Medium-brown varnish. Internal construction: Normal modern.
InscriptionsPrinted label: Nicolaus Amatus Cremonen Hieronymi / Fil. ac. Antonij Nepos fecit 1641
Provenance1926, sold by Joseph Chanot, London, England, to Mr. V. Schliemann; before 1946, sold by Schliemann to Arthur E. Smith & Co., Sydney, Australia; 1946, sold by Smith & Co. to T.W. Kimball, Esq.; before 1969, sold by Kimball to J. Bradley Taylor, Boston, Massachusetts; 1969, sold by Taylor to Dr. Arthur Spiller, Needham, Massachusetts; 1991, gift of Spiller to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 23, 1991)
Gavotte from Sonata no. 3 in C major (BWV 1005), 1720
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Daniel Stepner